life goes on :: stringing me along
by pretense
Summary: Annabeth & Rachel turn up at my apartment on Saturday. They hide their anxiety under wide smiles but I've been friends with them for years now, there's not a lot that they can hide from me. The call I got last night sounded serious. Future!fic, F/F, M/M


Annabeth and Rachel turn up at my apartment on Saturday. They hide their anxiety under wide smiles but I've been friends with them for years now, there's not a lot that they can hide from me. The call I got last night sounded serious. Then again, Annabeth always sounded serious.

They need something, she said, hopes it wouldn't be a bother. They know I'm still grieving from May Castellan's burial (hint: I'm not, seriously, it's been a month) but it's kind of important. They'll come around for lunch.

A vegan pizza is the couple's offering. I think Rachel's upping her save-the-earth cause with this , don't know _how _ exactly, I mention it anyway. It made for a pretty fun lunch; there was never a shortage of laughter as the three of us caught up with the happenings of the two not-quite-separate worlds we lived in.

On the mortal side, Annabeth's building design got featured on some prestigious architectural digest, Clarisse was three months pregnant, my stepbrother led his school's math team to the interstate finals, and the Stolls had a change of address due to an unfortunate accident involving their condo unit and fire (which may or may not be of Greek origin; my bet's on the first).

On the mythical side, the new oracle at Camp was having boy problems and had Rachel on speed dial, Cerberus had puppies (don't ask me how) and rumour is they're being trained as guards for Camp, Thalia sent a postcard from Greece where she and the Hunters killed a Theban Drakon, and Apollo's moonlighting with a new alternative rock band that just got a record deal with Sony.

We settled at the living room after the two refused dessert (more cookie dough ice cream for me) and I made them some tea instead. Rachel was very impressed that I had tea in my cupboards; then again, she was the one who got me off my coffee addiction in the first place. I set two steaming mugs of earl grey in front of them; they occupied the couch so I settled on the armchair beside it.

The mantelpiece was directly across my seat and the inevitable smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I looked up at the framed photo at the center – a little boy with beautiful eyes, a carefree smile, and two missing teeth. Souvenirs of shells and a bottle of sand claimed the rest of the space but their beauty was pretty much overshadowed by that one photo in the middle.

I returned my gaze to Annabeth and Rachel, both of whom were watching me with affectionate glints in their eyes. Tea and ice cream were gone soon enough and the two girls settled back on the couch with a bit more of a business-like air. Backs straight, clear eyes, and confident smiles on sparingly painted lips.

Well. Here it goes. I took a deep breath in preparation for what they had to say.

It was Rachel who opened her mouth to speak. "We need your genes." She wore a pleasant smile, hands folded neatly on her lap, said her words carefully as if I was one of the slower students in her arts class.

I blinked. I couldn't have heard that right. "Sorry, my _what_?"

"Genes, seaweed brain," Annabeth said, her hand rested lightly on Rachel's hip. I was a bit distracted by her manicured fingers playing with the hem of Rachel's shirt; it revealed a strip of ink-marked skin. I never knew that Rachel had a tattoo. "We need your genes," she repeated with that bossy tone of voice that always made me feel a bit inferior.

"Um…" I scratched the back of my neck. It was a weird request but I've had my share of weirder things in my nearly thirty years of living. Two of my closest friends asking for a pair of pants doesn't put much of a dent. "I haven't really done my laundry in a while…"

"Oh my gods." Rachel started snickering and turned away from me, stifling her laughter on Annabeth's shoulder.

I failed to see what she found funny. If anything, I should be the one laughing at their crazy request. What did they want with pants anyway, more specifically mine?

"Not _jeans_," Annabeth rolls her eyes, a quirk on her lips despite her disproving tone. "G-E-N-E-S. Genetic material."

A beat.

"You're not gonna clone me or anything, are you?" My mind just goes to weird conclusions like that. I'm kind of used to it.

Rachel dissolved to giggles and Annabeth joined her girlfriend, wiping away the tears from her eyes.

"Oh gods this is just…" Rachel's sentence ended in more snickering.

"We should've tried Plan A first," Annabeth replied in between bursts of laughter.

"But I liked Plan B," Rachel said, pouting a little.

"Yes, and look where it got us," Annabeth turned her grey eyes at me. "Really, Percy, cloning?"

I shrugged.

They calmed down and straightened their postures again but their faces still occasionally crinkled with residue laughter.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Okay, let's do this properly." She shared a look with Rachel and they held hands before levelling their gazes on me. "Percy."

I suddenly felt like a misbehaved kid. I clasped my hands together and put on my best face. "Yeah?"

"Rachel and I spent a lot of time thinking about this," Annabeth said, her kind smile did nothing to stop the growing anxiety in my system. "And we decided that you should be the first to know because you kind of play a real important part in our lives."

It felt like I should nod at that point so I did.

"Heck, our anniversary even fell on your birthday," Rachel continued, her freckled cheeks coloring a faint pink.

I smiled at the memory. Mom was pregnant with my stepbrother that summer and we had the party at Montauk, Rachel and Annabeth had been arguing all week and I was pretty caught in between them, not wanting to take sides. Suffice to say things happened and everything turned out for the better in the end.

"And the thing is," Rachel bit her lip and shared another look with Annabeth who nodded at her to continue. Apple green eyes returned to me and Rachel finished the statement with a wide smile. "We're thinking of starting a family."

"That's great." I replied automatically, my own lips forming a smile at the news. "Wow, um, just wow… I'm happy for you guys."

Annabeth's grin was the same one she wore when she returned Olympus to its former architectural glory. "Thanks, Percy. So you'll help us, right?"

"Help?"

"Well neither of us have the Y-chromosome needed to develop an embryo," Annabeth pointed out in her I'm-stating-the-obvious voice.

"We need your genes," Rachel said and whoa it's making sense now.

_Oh._

"Oh."

The smile must've slipped off my face because both of the girls are looking a little bit hesitantly at me now. I'm allowed a few moments to process things, right? I mean, unless I'm reading things wrong (which I'm pretty sure I'm not), they just asked me to father a child. _Their_ child. I'm gonna father a child.

Oh.

Holy Poseidon.

"Oh gods, he's getting pale." Annabeth's voice sounded a bit too loud.

"I'll get some water." Rachel's worried tone echoed in my head.

Before I knew it there were hands on my forehead and shoulders and the rim of a glass was pressed against my lips.

"Percy, just drink, stop thinking for a moment. Just drink the water and calm down."

I didn't know who said that but I found myself obediently following. Cold water flooded my mouth, soothing my parched throat. Okay. Calm. No thoughts. Calm. Water. Calm. Okay.

I blinked a few times and was greeted with worried faces. I took hold of the glass from Rachel and emptied the whole thing, she refilled it without my asking and I finished the second glass promptly. It took five glasses before I felt my toes again.

"Feeling better?" Annabeth asked, a frown worrying her brows. The streak of grey in her hair stood out when she was close like this, kneeling beside the armchair.

"I'm fine." I managed to reply. "I just… shock and… um…"

"Shh, Percy, just calm down first," Rachel said, refilling the glass again.

I nodded and drank half the water, licking my lips as I stared into the blue fish patterns around the glass. I met green and grey eyes, letting a loose smile form on my lips. "W-What exactly will that, you know, _mean_, exactly." Eye contact, good. Complete and sensible sentence, good. Relatively calm tone, eh, good enough.

The girls eye each other, a conversation I'm not privy to happening in front of me.

Rachel turned back to me, anxiety dominating her features. "Finish your drink first."

Or not. I'm guessing they won't talk unless I do that so I started drinking.

"We don't want to force you, Percy," Annabeth said, lifting one hand from my shoulder and caressing my cheek lightly. "It's okay to say no. Is that clear?"

I nodded, glass covering my lips and water occupying my mouth.

"Okay, so…" Rachel set the pitcher of water on the side table and clasped her hands together, aiming for a gentle smile. "We decided that I would be the one to carry the baby. And naturally, you were our first choice to be our sperm donor; good friend and all that."

I nodded again, a little more slowly this time.

"We're going for I.V.," Rachel continued.

"In Vitro fertilization," Annabeth supplied helpfully, detracting her hand from my cheek and setting it over my forearm.

"It's been statistically proven safe and successful," Rachel said, the words coming out of her like a well-rehearsed speech. (I'm guessing it was.) "And the whole thing is really simple. You just provide the, um, sperm and then the doctors will select the most potent. It'll be injected into me and that's it, basically."

I relaxed, sitting back a bit more comfortably. The smiles on their faces grew a little. Of course they understood that. I realized that I've been drinking from an empty glass for a while now; I put it down and put up a more convincing smile. "I'll do it."

Just like that their faces lit up.

"Are you sure?" Annabeth asked, a most hopeful gleam shining in her eyes. "I mean, you can have a couple of days to think about it. There's no rush."

"I'm sure," I told her, taking her hand and Rachel's. "I'll be glad to."

"Oh, Percy, thank you!" Rachel threw her arms around me in a fierce hug.

"Thanks." Annabeth was a bit more composed but the heartfelt gratitude in her tone was more than enough.

"I'll just have to warn you though," I said, biting the inside of my cheek as Rachel let go. "That kid may inherit my taste for all things blue."

"We'll take that chance," Rachel winked, kissing me on the cheek. "Really, Percy, this means so much to us – thank you." She stepped back and helped Annabeth to her feet. They hugged tight and kissed each other quick. When they parted, the photo on the mantel was revealed and my smile felt more solid.

Yeah, I made the right decision.

The rest of the afternoon was spent discussing schedules (I was going to leave for a biology conference in Japan in two weeks' time, I could visit the clinic before then) and the couple treated me out to dinner. It wasn't necessary but they promised me Punjabi cuisine; I couldn't say no.

I came home just as the clock struck eight-thirty. Still early. I could check-up on the progress of my latest project at the research center, I remembered the National Geographic special on tiger sharks about to start in fifteen minute's time, I should probably get my laundry gathered up so I could send it to the cleaners first thing tomorrow. I did none of those things.

A bluish-white glow lit up my bedroom courtesy of the fountain installed at the far corner – an exact copy of the one at the Poseidon Cabin. Tyson made it by my request, mounted it the first week I moved here. It gave the place such a beautiful effect that I strode in without bothering to switch the lights open. I slipped out of my coat, set it over the back of my study desk, and pulled open a secret drawer that revealed neat stacks of golden drachma.

Flipping the coin in mid-air, I walked over to the fountain, my smile growing wider by the second, a giddy hum thrumming in my veins. The smooth surface of the water rippled as the golden coin dropped in the middle.

"O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering."

The water shimmered and the heavy coin disappeared. I'm thinking the smile on my face could just about reach my ears.

I licked my lips.

"Luke Castellan, Elysium."

From the waterfall, the image of a blonde man resting against the trunk of a tree surfaced. His eyes were closed, looking every bit to be asleep, blots of sunlight and shadows dancing on his calm face.

"Hello, Percy," he greeted without opening his eyes, lips forming a smile.

"Hi," I smiled back. "You'll never believe what happened today…"

He opened one blue eye. "After having a son of Hades unceremoniously crash into my house, I don't think much will surprise me today…"

"Wait – you mean Nico? Nico's there?" I blinked, more than a little surprised at Luke's revelation. Sure, Nico pretty much has a free pass to the Underworld and all places therein but him crashing into Luke's house? That begs for some clarification.

"Something about needing a place to cool off from, and I quote, '_thieving bastard brothers_'," Luke said, an amused lilt on his lips.

"Oh." A slight chuckle escapes me. So it _was_ Nico. Hah, Clarisse owes me two drachmas.

"I'm thinking he did some major bitching up there." Luke straightened up, both eyes open now. "So spill."

"He set the Stolls' condo unit on fire." I bit my lower lip. "Greek fire, by the looks of the damage on things."

Luke nodded, chuckling. "Then he's right to stay clear of the living world for a while. For his sake _and_ the Stolls'."

"Hell has no fury like a son of Hades scorned." I grinned.

"I guess I better get used to a whiny housemate for the next few months." Luke stretched out his arms.

"Well…" My smile was threatening to break my face in half. "As long as you remind him to come up in about nine months' time, everything's fine."

"Nine?" Luke raised a brow, his lips forming a lazy smile.

"Yeah," I nod a little. I think I'm blushing, then again – in front of Luke, when am I not? "Annabeth and Rachel are having a baby through in vitro fertilization."

Light blue eyes widened a little at the news. "Send them my congratulations," he spoke with warmth lacing every word.

"But what about the baby-daddy?" I asked, fiddling with my thumbs.

"Why should I congratulate a guy for jerking off into a cup?" Luke challenged, staring at me with a smirk.

I'm pouting, I'm sure I am.

Then Luke laughed, loud and still so goddamned charming, blue eyes alight with amusement. "I'm messing with you." He leaned closer to the mirage, crossing his legs, elbows on his thighs. "Congratulations to you too."

"Thanks." Just like that my mood was lifted to the high heavens. Of course, I was entitled to a snarky comeback. "Consider yourself a pseudo-surrogate father."

Luke chuckled. His smile was bright, infecting me as if he's right in front of me and not a gazillion miles away. "Naturally."

This is our daily routine. These talk things. He still isn't over me having his picture on the mantelpiece.


End file.
